Neil Doyle
Those are the two glaring complaints I have about A CARIBBEAN MYSTERY, a made for TV movie which dawdles on for a long time before getting to the point of a series of murders committed at a vacation resort.Helen Hayes, her American accent intact, still makes a passable Miss Marple even when she utters the name of a quaint village in England as her home, St. Mary Mead. Barnard Hughes is the mean-spirited man whose rudeness becomes a bit overdone after the first few scenes, making you wish he's going to be one of the victims. Not so. He and Miss Marple join forces to solve the crime.The conclusion is rushed through with brief explanations and not much dramatic conflict, so it's a bit of a letdown--although the murderer's identity is never hard to guess. The acting ranges from competent to barely competent, but the script is rather mediocre.Recommended for rabid Christie fans only. Nicely photographed with Santa Barbara, California filling in for the Caribbean, but this is very tepid stuff, to say the least, nowhere as good as other Christie outings.
Iain-215
I came across an old video of this TV movie and watched it for the first time in about fifteen years. It is hopelessly trapped in 80s TV soap land with big hair and bright costumes and a 'steel band' soundtrack - its a bit like Christie meets Fantasy Island! Where does Helen Hayes' Miss Marple come from? Certainly not from Saint Marymead, England! However, the story stays remarkably faithful to the book (apart from the updating), Hayes' Marple (apart from the accent) is actually very engaging and there are some good supporting performances (I particularly liked the Rafiel ensemble and poor,lost Molly Kendall). There is no denying the superior quality of the (slightly) later BBC version with Joan Hickson but having watched that too recently, I was surprised to find that it does not beat this earlier version as conclusively as I would have thought.This is an intriguing oddity and worth a look if you come across it.
Charles Herold (cherold)
This is a pretty poorly made TV movie typical of the early 80s, with an overly syrupy score and bland cinematography and awful acting by everyone under the age of 60. So it can be taken as proof of Agatha Christie's genius that a straightforward telling of one of her stories is pretty enjoyable even when done by hacks. The best part is watching the way Miss Marple manipulates the situation, pulling the strings of those around her while managing to seem harmless and perhaps dotty. In spite of her floating accent, Hayes makes an excellent Miss Marple, and Hughes and Evans are also quite good. The rest of the acting varies from mediocre to truly incompetent, but the story is strong enough to survive. The ending is unfortunately weak and feels as though it was rushed through, so the feeling of satisfaction one gets in a Christie book is sadly lacking, but overall it's pretty watchable, and I give it 6/10, which is about as much as you can give something filmed with the care of an episode of MacMillan and Wife.
Movie_Man 500
Solid faithful adaption of one of Miss Marple's vacation mysteries, this has a decent cast (for a tv movie) and an okay storyline. Warning: Barnard Hughes as a grouchy old millionaire will soon start to irritate the more he nags and grumbles. The killer should have offed him in the first 5 minutes. Helen Hayes makes a nice Jane however so she saves the movie from veering too far into the goofy, even when her snooping gets out of hand. This may her best starring performance in a Christie adaption. Another version of this story was made for British television.
AD
